Dancing with the Trinity

I'm baaackkkkkkk

2008-05-27T19:32:00.002+10:00

I am surprised how long it is since I last blogged. I'm still alive and kicking. I have resumed doing some woodwork which has been a hobby of mine. I have been making planter and blanket boxes, small shelves, toys etc which I hope to sell at the local markets and am hoping to have enough of a collection by the 2nd Sat of next month.

The trouble has been that some of the items I have been making we want to keep for ourselves, such as a large trunk which we are giving to the boys as a birthday present as a pirate chest to keep the lounge room tidy.

This has resulted in my being away from the computer a lot of the time. This is mostly because of tiredness and also since I came home from hospital I have spent way toooo much time on the net. Which has been beneficial as it kept me from boredom while I could not do any thing else.

I handed my walking stick back to the hospital on Wednesday and only have to go to rehab once a month from now on. Though I am still finding I have holes in my memory which is a little embarrassing. I found out a 2 new thing I new that I didn't know on Sunday. One was that my brother in law had his tonsils out 18 months ago and that they had renovated their kitchen around the same time and had been there shortly after they did it. I walked into the house expressing delighted surprise with what they had done only to be told they were not that old..... ahhh well I'm sort of used to it by now and sort of have a expectation these days as to what I will discover next.

I have an appointment with the job assessor with Centrelink next month and hopefully will start a bit of part time work or retraining. I was thinking about resuming part time studies but we really need some more income at the moment and I don't have the energy to do both. Working will be interesting as I have mostly done physical outdoors work, with some courier and commission sales work which I won't be able to do. While I have been doing some work around the house, gardening, wood work etc, it has been slow and what would normally take me a few hours takes me a whole day of more to get done.

If any one is praying for me, please pray that I would find suitable part time work for both my wife and myself.

Blessings craig

Every one is an evangelist - even the athiest

2008-04-25T13:21:00.000+10:00

Joel makes some real interesting observations.

Does our life reflect Christ making him palatable for others to eat and drink?

Its A.N.Z.A.C Day - lest we forget

2008-04-25T10:17:00.003+10:00

It's Anzac day today in Australia.

My grandfather William (Bill) was born on the 14/11/1896 and served our country in World War 1. He and his brother joined the army march as it passed through their home town of Gundagai on the 19/8/1915. He was initially sent to Egypt as part of the 3rd Battalion and joined the 5th on the 21/4/1916.

They were sent to France and fought at the battle of the Somme. Bill spent much time at Flanders Field and eventually they march into France on the 1/5/1919 where he eventually became discharged from the army back home in Australia on the 17/10/1919 four years later.
He was quiet about the war years and rarely spoke about them and when the 2nd world war broke out he refused to consider rejoining. He and his brother John became reasonably wealthy on the ship on the way home as they ran the two up games.

The only two things he told me about the war was that if a bullet missed by a 1mm it might as well have missed by a mile. The other was a time when an officer told him to construct an officers toilet. So he did and as he walked away from it the Germans fired an artillery round and blew it up. On reporting it to the officer he was curtly told "Well put it up again"
So he did and of course as he walked away the Germans fired another round blowing it up. After they blew it up the 3rd time the officer said "Don't put it up again, we ain't going to use it"

He died on the 27/11/1988 aged 92.

It's good to remember our past generations, especially to honor those who went to war to fight for freedom, many of whom never came back. A.N.Z.A.C day is good for us to celebrate, not for the sake of war glorifying in it - rather so that we can remember the horrors of it. Remind our selves of the cost of freedom. Hence the slogan "Lest we forget" is a good reminder of why.

As a Christian I think this is a slogan all Christian should take on board. "Lest we forget" Sunday is a time to remember what Christ done for us. He volunteered to come to earth, casting aside the power of His divinity, being humbled to live and experience the full limitations of being a human. Being tired, hungry, rejected as well as knowing what it is to be loved by a parent - to have good friends.

Christ went to war for us. He waged war in the heavenly realms so that we could have peace with God. He payed the ultimate price and made the ultimate sacrifice for you and me so that we could have freedom from sin. So that we could come into a relationship freely without any fear with the living God.

May every morning we wake up, spend time thinking about the cross, speaking to our living God - Lest we forget.

We are building a backyard aquacultural system.

2008-04-24T18:59:00.003+10:00

For some years now I have been interested in raising edible fish in the back yard. But up till recently thought it was a unrealistic idea. Recently I have come across some interesting websites that is all about backyard aquaculture, which makes the idea a realistic one.

Basically the premise is to reticulate the water the fish live in through some gravel filled containers that are used as garden beds to convert the waste in the water into healthy vegetables, cleansing and aerating the water back into the fish tanks where the process begins again.
The fish and food waste in the water produces ammonia - which is extremely toxic to fish. This toxins when processed through gravel filled garden beds change into a nitrate form, which when processed by bacteria in the gravel produces nitrogen which causes leafy greens to grow extremely well.
It has been our plan for many years now to put in a fish pond at the side of the house and I have been interested in building it as a rather longish feature along the driveway which continues up the back which is also on a slope. This feature would look like a series of small gardens and ponds that would cause the water to flow down the garden into the main pond/ponds and would be at least 2o meters in length. Though it would be a rather narrow 300 to 500mm wide for about 10 meters as it came down beside the drive way where it opens up to a larger area.

This time of year council have a annual kerbside clean up and I'm looking out for a discarded pool liner which I can use for the pond linings. Being a scrounger / collector has been a boon for me as I have in my mums garage a Bio - cycle waste pump, float switch and aerator from when we connected to the town sewerage back in 1999. The waste pump may need some seals replaced but I'm sure the servicing of it will be much cheaper than it would be to buy a new one.

Alternative energy and self sufficiency

2008-04-21T17:05:00.003+10:00

I have always been interested in being self sufficient or as much as possible in regards to food and energy. The monetary costs of being self sufficient in regards to energy have been way past our budget. Some of the ways we have however contributed to saving energy and food costs have been
a) Having a veggie garden and some fruit trees.
b) Installing a 4000 litre water tank.
c) Installing a slow combustion wood fire and which we sometimes cook on and boil water in winter.
d) Insulated the roof and walls when the house was built.
e) Connected to gas for hot water and the stove - the oven is electric though.

What I would like to do eventually when it comes to replacing the wood heater is to replace it with a wood stove...from this we can actually do away with the gas / electric stove during winter. We can also connect it to the water heater and use it to heat water.
Before you through up your arms in shock and horror. Good seasoned fire wood is actually better for the environment than what it is to burn coal and it is still going to contribute to the Co2 problem if it rots on the ground and so though the fire will still release Co2, it will only be the same amount as it would have naturally done any way. And we will be in front because we won't be contributing to the problems with coal and gas.

Our back yard is 17 * 20 meters and so we don't have a great deal of room to grow food. I have recently become excited about Aquaculture where you can fatten your own fish and grow plants at the same time in grow beds. See here and here. These beds will grow as much greens as I currently grow and possibly more in a much smaller space. The result would mean that we would be able to plant more fruit and nut trees as well as more staples such as pumpkins and potatoes and use less water. Aquaculture means less water is used as the water is continually recycled through the grow beds cleaning it of all toxins - Ammonia and nitrates which are good for plants. 10% of the fishtanks water needs replacing on a weekly basis. This means for a 2000 litre tank, 200 litres are used to water the garden ( in the aquaculture grow beds) each week.

We have been growing worms and composting for many years now and shortly will be getting some chickens. We have not been able to over the last few years due to our sons working on local poultry farms and the requirement was they weren't to have chickens. This will mean we can eat better eggs and if need be even our own chicken meat.

I would also like to go solar powered. We have around 200 sq2 meters of roof and use about 15kw of power a day. The problem is that the cost of solar panels are extremely expensive. Yet there could be a method to do away with solar panels or at least a few of them.

I came across a interesting alternative energy source called Wally Minto's wheel. The trouble with it is that it doesn't rotate very fast. It does about 1rpm, but the torque is extremely high. So it may be good for pumping water and milling grain but as it is it's not efficient for making electricity.

Last night I had a bit of a brain wave. I thought why not adapt it into a see saw mechanism. I have drawn a rough sketch of it below. This afternoon I also thought of adding another piston along each arm of the see saw so that there would be 4 pistons operating. Perhaps it would be possible to situate more pistons underneath the arms, but I'm not sure how you could do it within the hot water tubs?

It could be adapted to drive a hydraulic motor which would power an alternator to power batteries. Though I'm thinking that perhaps it would be more efficient to use it as a air compressor to power a air motor to turn the alternator / generator to charge the batteries.
last year while I was in hospital I watched a documentary about a French man who converted a small commercial van to run on compressed air. He managed about 200kms on a tank with speeds around 110 kms an hour. His next project was building one with a small petrol motor which would enable further trips which would also power a compressor to fill the air tanks. He also manged to build a small pump which compressed a small amount of air each time the brakes were used.
If he was able to power a small van over a distance of 200 kms, it certainly is possible for a air powered motor to turn a generator to charge batteries, especially as it is constantly compressing the tanks during the day. Which would make a solar powered system a lot more affordable as you would not need any or very few panels.

The Gospel is the power of Salvation

2008-04-17T10:20:00.002+10:00

I have come across a good Arminian Blog called Society of Evangelical Arminians. I myself lean more towards Arminian theology in regards to the Calvinistic acronym T.U.L.I.P and truly baulk at its doctrine of limited atonement and predestination. Billy Birch makes a good point here in regards what the Gospel is and its power to save.

Romans 1.16-17, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'But the righteous man shall live by faith'" (NASB, and henceforth).

Christ's gospel is effectual, "even" on an unregenerate spirit. That forces me to ask the Calvinist: What power does the gospel contain if one must first be regenerated in order to believe it?

Romans 10.14, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?"

It seems to me that many Calvinists preach a false Gospel that says, "You must first be made regenerate by God before you may be saved" and in doing so water down the truth that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Gods FULL power to save.

Ten Years - Roseanne Catt

2008-04-11T11:48:00.003+10:00

I just finished reading this book which tells the terrible story of a lady given 12 years goal for a crime she didn't commit.

I like to think that in Australia we have a good justice system. Admittedly not a perfect one - but still good nonetheless. Her story tells a different story. It paints a picture of how our justice system does or at least did not truly have rehabilitation in mind. And it tells the story of how if someone with some authority in the system have something against you they can bury you without you even knowing your rights.

I believe every Christian needs to read this. We should be interested in justice and in rehabilitation, for the Christian message is one of Justice and Rehabilitation. In my view there is not much difference between sanctification and rehabilitation. Therefore our view towards justice and rehabilitation should be the same that we view our sanctification and that the end result should be towards changing lives and not making them worse.
She shares the horrific story of drugs, suicide, depression and corruption within the prison system.

Roseanne's story rubs against every thing within me that is Australian. We like to give people a fair go. We like to think that our nation is a nation that gives us all a fair go.
Fair Dinkum mate is one of my favorite sayings. And it pains me to have read how not every Australian has been Fair Dinkum.

I have been encouraged to read her story of not giving up in difficult circumstances.

Don't you hate it when they don't get it?

2008-04-07T10:08:00.002+10:00

I like playing with words. I like sparring with words in a fun fashion without tearing the other to pieces. Irony and satire can be sometimes the funniest type of humor around. The same with jokes.

But don't you hate it when you think you have come up with a absolute corker and no one gets it?
And if you have to explain it then somehow the humor of it gets lost in the explanation.

This happened to me recently on the Sydney Anglicans forum when discussing a book on the Men and Church thread. We were discussing John Elredges book Wild at Heart and the premise behind it where men and church are becoming to feminised.
Someone posted the following

Craig, Fred agreed with the basic premise of Eldredge’;s book, but would never EVER recommend it to ANYONE due to its
- dreadful use of scripture
- over reliance on pop culture examples
- embrace of Open Theism ie God as Risk Taker
I didn’;t read all of it, but did hear quite a bit of it as Fred read bits of it out in horrified tones!~ I know Vaughan (son) tried to read it but ended up throwing it across room in disgust.
Have you found any problems at all in Eldredge’s use of Scripture?

My reply which I thought was a absolute corker and brilliant play on words was,

I guess my philosophy is to do what Paul said to us in mimicking what ever he did…

Perhaps it was lost on them with my following statement

I think if he and the other Apostles were modern day student’s at Moore or any other theological college they would have been chided on their terrible use of Scripture in making their points

On a more serious note; in critiquing a book - we need to first consider the whole message of the book. Then in light of that message, critique the message / premise on its Biblical merit and not pull it apart on its seemingly sloppy handling of Scripture.

After all isn't that what the Authors of the NT have done to illustrate the points they wanted to get across?

"...Failure to success in selling" - and how we evangelise today

2008-04-06T19:30:00.002+10:00

Gordon Cheng made a interesting post about a book written by Frank Bettger

"How I raised myself from failure to success in selling"

That was one of the books that was compulsory reading when I did my insurance sales training.
I probably still have a copy or two over at my mums.

I have forgotten what the other one was, it was written by the founder of the company. I still remember today the words they taught us in overcoming objections to people who didn't want to buy a policy. What was worse is that they actually worked and people actually bought policies they didn't want.

In a way I wonder if the same kind of thing happens at times in our evangelism. We learn a method by rote - whether it be the two ways to live - The 4 spiritual laws or other. We learn how to overcome peoples objections and then through our selling technique we have them pray the sinners prayer and pat our selves on the back for another policy sold.

Yet how effective is this for making a deep heart felt decision for Christ, where the person truly becomes convicted of their sins and the need for Christ.
I see a danger where sometimes our evangelism could be based on the need to make another sale and not on the eternal needs of the person.

Forgiveness

2008-04-06T16:26:00.002+10:00

The topic of forgiveness is something that is or should be something close to the heart of every one of us. Firstly all who call themselves Christians should know the real depth of how they are forgiven.
Scripture tells us that those who are forgiven much, love much. And so one could say that those who love much - know how much they are forgiven and out of that knowledge springs a well of love.
Forgiveness is something that we all are called to give freely to others. Yet I believe for some of us we are to quick to mouth the words we forgive, without first working through the reality of what it is we are forgiving. To truly forgive someone, it means that we truly have experienced and know the true reality of all they have done to us. We have to know the pain and allow ourselves to feel the physical, emotional, spiritual pain of what has been done to us. Then and only then are we able to truly forgive those who have sinned against us in what ever way they have done so for what ever it is they did to us.

Jesus went through the agony of the cross. He endured the pain of betrayal of His friends. He endured the pain of being mocked. He endured the pain of being flogged. He endured the pain of being nailed to the cross. He endured the taunts of unbelief. He endured the final rejection of His Father and the Holy Spirit leaving Him to die alone on the cross. And it was towards the end of His pain, towards the end of fully experiencing the pain, the shame and the loneliness of the cross that He uttered the words. "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing"

In other words, Christ is saying "I forgive you"

What do you know?

2008-04-04T17:09:00.002+11:00

I have had a real active day today. I would have to say its the best for a long time. I went for a walk to the shops. Finally posting away last years BAS statement. I went with out the walking stick...which made the walk a little slower as well as making me look a bit clumsier. On the way back I bought two books for $2. and a chicken roll and did some reading in the park.

I was a little embarrassed to find that I already have a well read copy of one of the books on my shelf - Frederick Forsyth's "No Comebacks" which is a collection of short stories with a twist at the end of each. It apparently is / was one of my favorite books.

Also when I was digging my garden today preparing another bed, I found that I have forgotten what the ph needs to be for the veggies I want to plant. I have been gardening for many years now, my parents had their own plant nursery / indoor plant hire business and it is something I should have and know I have known this in the past.

I have also been having a interesting and helpful discussion with Byron Smith regarding identity on a previous thread. It was a little embarrassing for me to have to admit that I believed that we have a body, spirit and soul, and yet I couldn't remember why or to what the soul is attached to in that I believe we represent the Trinity as being the image of God. I know or sort of know that I formed a opinion on this at college and did some research on it as to why I based my belief on what I did.

Yet this one thing I know, God is good.

The Bible tells me to speak to my soul and say. Oh my soul why are you downcast? Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives you of all your iniquities and heals you of all your diseases. Psalm 103.

Does God speak to us through dreams?

2008-04-04T10:11:00.002+11:00

I had a weird dream last night. One that I could not escape from and one that seemed to go on through out most of the night and when I woke up it would continue when I went back to sleep.

The setting of the dream was like the mafia had sent out hit men to get me. My wife told me this morning that she was dodging punches and kicks all night. In the dream I was punching and kicking these guys who would consistently chase me and when I escaped would find me again.

There were times when I would escape in fast cars only for them to give pursuit. Once I found myself in a safe house and the others were knocking on every house in the street trying to find me. Then the dream changed where some how I got onto a horse and was able to jump various fences and hedges finally hiding behind a fence with the horse while these guys were hunting for me, not able to find me.
Finally they did and I grabbed a machine type gun from one of the guys and started shooting them, which seemed to create more of them coming towards me.

When I woke up this morning I had a Scripture come to mind. "Our weapons of war fare are not carnal, they have divine power to pull down all strongholds...that our fight is not against flesh and blood but is against spiritual powers"

I found this extremely encouraging and believe that God was reminding me that the true weapons I have in fighting against this sickness and depression that I have been going through is Him. And therefore I'm not to be as frustrated with the lack of diagnosis from the doctors.

Trinity against unitarianism

2008-04-03T15:03:00.002+11:00

PJ makes a great post against unitarianism.

Have a read, he has more patience than I do in watching a 2 hour documentary that a unitarian wanted us to watch. They certainly do terrible things to John 1:1 in making out that "Word" does not mean Christ.

Pray for Mike Rayson's son.

2008-04-03T10:05:00.002+11:00

Mike Rayson is a mate of mine and a itinerant evangelist / musician and is currently ministering in the USA. His son Ollie was attacked by a dog and hurt badly by it.

Ollie has gone home with 29 puncture wounds from his shoulders to his ankles with two lacerations where the flesh was ripped away and they had to stitch up. He has just gotten home. He is majorly shaken up and was saying on the way to the hospital "I am going to die" which is not far fetched for a little boy who watched his brother have an incident with an animal and die.

He is bruised on about 75% of his body and is EXTREMELY sore. He can hardly move without being in pain

Please pray for him, Mike and his wife Amy and other daughter. They lost a son last year through being kicked in the chest by a horse.

It's cold so I lit the fire today

2008-04-03T09:52:00.002+11:00

I enjoy winter time. That is when I am inside at home. Its a time for me to light the fire. (Slow combustion stove) During winter we keep the billy on and I must say there is nothing better than a cup of tea from a pot that has been kept simmering for a while.

Sometimes I have been guilty of cranking it up to hot. Guests have come in and start sweating and feeling uncomfortable not able to take layers of clothing off as they rugged up for the winter cold.
If you come for a visit to my home in winter, ensure that you wear clothing that you can easily take off without being indecent in doing so. I hate having to rug up in my home, plus the advantage is that when you leave you can rug up warmly and be snug against the cold.

Hospital Food.

2008-04-03T07:59:00.002+11:00

Gordon Cheng links to an interesting report regarding hospital food.

I must say that the food in the two hospitals I spent 7 weeks in last year (Campbletown and Camden) Had terrific food and plenty of it.
Yes at times there were problems such as getting the wrong type of bread or wrong flavored yogurt. Maybe a cup of tea instead of coffee - sometimes with or without milk. But most of the time it was spot on.
There were a few concerns that this report does pick up some of them.

1.) That some of the food is packaged in a way that makes it hard to open.
a.) Cereal came in those single portion boxes. These I found hard to open myself and alongside many others had to get nurses to open them for us.
b) Bread came wrapped in the same type of packaging which again necessitated help to open them.
c.) The same was with the milk, butter, condiment and juice portions. Especially the juices, even my wife had trouble opening them at times.
d.) The pepper and salt also came in those little portioned packets which would often get wet, damp or if dry would be hard to open and sprinkle on the food.

2.) All the food came from a central location away from the hospital. This meant that if there was a problem with the traffic or an accident occurred the food would not be on time...admittedly though the service was good and this never happened during the time I spent in hospital.

There was only one time at Camden when the lunch time meal was not the normal choice. That was because the only lift in the hospital was being serviced, which meant the normal hot meals could not be delivered. We had been given a few days warning regarding this though and in reality there is nothing wrong with having a sandwich for lunch any way.

Interesting though from what I observed happening is different to what this report found regarding undernourishment. Many of the elderly and frail would leave much of their food uneaten because they either didn't have the appetite to eat what was in front of them or the energy to eat much.
A lot of the elderly patients who came in were already a little undernourished through not eating enough or proper food anyway. Many would tell me that they would just have a sandwich during the day and maybe another one at night while at home. Others would tell me that they had the one meal provided to them by meals on wheels.

I also recognise that since the inquiry some years ago into Campbeltown hospital many improvements have been made. And that the two hospitals I spent time in come under a different area health department than the ones mentioned in this report.

The one frustration that I did have is the lack of nursing and medical staff. The staff at both the hospitals were incredibly efficient at their work and very compassionate with the patients and so I cannot complain about them in any way. The lack of funding for more staff though made their work much more difficult and I think that a duty of care means that if patients and nurses have more time for interaction, healing would take place a lot quicker. (The situation at the rehab ward was a little different in that the nurses, doctors and staff did have more time for patient interaction)

Update on health

2008-04-02T14:11:00.002+11:00

I saw the specialist last Thursday and had another MRI scan done on Friday. I'm waiting for the results of that to come back and we don't think any thing will come of it. I have to go and get my eyes checked sometime next week to see if that could be the trouble with my judging distances.

I went of the antidepressants some time back as the metallic taste in my mouth was too much and they made me gad when taking them. I have found that being able to talk about the frustrations of the whole thing has actually helped a great deal and don't suffer it as bad now.

I have put the walking stick aside for now and am trying to concentrate on walking without it as much as possible. My strength is increasing slightly. Yesterday I was able to dig a bit more in the garden and made a garden bed for the winter veggies. I'm thinking of planting cauliflower in this bed. Need to make some more up. Little by little wins the race.

I found myself talking to the Lord today saying that even with all the frustrations of being sick, I would not have missed the journey God has taken me for any thing. My trust in Him has deepened, the depth of community at church and with others has increased. Not only mine, my wife as well.
Last Sunday a couple repeated to us what many others have said in that we had brought much encouragement to them in the way we have handled the whole thing. Yet this encouragement is a 3 way street. The Lord encourages us through others as well as through His word and allows us to encourage others.
I truly don't know how any one can get through sickness without being involved in a strong community and knowing God is in control.

Feeding the Trolls.

2008-04-01T22:12:00.003+11:00

There seems to be a bit of a concerted effort by the trolls in debating / trashing the doctrine of the Trinity through out blogdom at the moment. I have taken a comment Josh made to one such troll and unashamedly I am taking it as it is for my own stock standard response.

Since you are such an expert in church history and patristic theology, you ought to know that nearly everything you have said has been said before by Arians, semi-Arians, Apollinarians, Pelagians, and Nestorians, with lengthy response dissertations published by the Fathers, and later, since Socinians and Anabaptists raised many of the same issues, the Reformers. If you are familiar with this, then you are trolling. If you are not, then I commend you to the classical texts by Athanasius, Cyril, John of Damascus, and Martin Chemnitz, since I will not waste my time repeating what has been discussed at length in much better books than I could write. That should keep you busy.

I would recommend you scroll down the comments to see the full comment he made about them both making the same old - same old stock standard arguments and responses.

Well said Josh.

The Israelites and the sabbath

2008-03-31T21:18:00.004+11:00

I have many friends who fellowship and minister in many denominations. Some firmly believe that Saturday is the day of the Sabbath while other firmly believe that Sunday is. Others are more flexible and believe that one day in seven is OK for the Sabbath while I tongue in check say that the sabbath should be every 7th day from the day you were born again.

Tonight while going through our nightly devotions with my son, we read Joshua 6. This is the story where they conquer the city of Jericho. The interesting thing I found was that God ordered them to walk around the city quietly once a day for 6 days while the priests blew a trumpet and then on the 7th day ordered them to walk around it 7 times and after the 7th time give a mighty shout and the walls would collapse.

The Scriptures don't make it clear, but I suspect that the 7th day would have normally been their sabbath day. The reason I think this is the fact that they had to walk around the city 7 days instead of the once which they had to do the previous 6 days. The sabbath was normally a day of rest, a day of no work where they would normally gather to worship the Lord. I doubt if their sabbath was one of the days where they walked the once - rather that it was the day where they did something more unusual then the norm.

That day the Lord caused the walls to come tumbling down and the Israelites took over the city of Jericho and after looting it burnt it to the ground.

I found this interesting after considering the way the pharisees who gave Jesus a hard time for healing and doing good on the sabbath did not consider this story - who should have known it well - and whether or not the sabbath did fall on the 7th day in this story or was one of the other 6 days - the fact is that God ordered his people to work on that day.

How true it is that true obedience to God in heart, mind and strength is the greatest worship of all.

Did they fail or succeed at church planting

2008-03-31T18:01:00.002+11:00

Here is a great story about a new church plant that shut down after four and a half years of ministry. If you were a church planter, or were part of a church that folded would you think you failed or succeeded.

Read the true story here.

I don't think any church plant can fail if we have the attitude that God is in control. Perhaps it all about what our attitude towards success and what we think success is that causes us to think of failure!

Church is all about community.

2008-03-31T17:00:00.002+11:00

There is a movement that is a bit of a buzz word / term within Sydney Anglican circles at the moment regarding the intent of a book called Total Church. Michael Jensen blogged about it here and wrote a more detailed article about it here.

There has been a bit of blogging about community and what it means to be the church that truly engages with the community. Such as the discussion on Sydney Anglicans about connecting with the community and Byron Smith here and here.

I posted on the subject of the church I see here as well.

The book was written by a pastor of the Crowded House Church who have radicalized the way they do church and engage with the community at large. I see a resemblance to this movement to that of the philosophy of the emergent church movement in that it started from a dissatisfaction with the status quo as far as the established church goes.

Yet they have done it in a way that has reformed the way they function without distorting the Gospel Message or diluting the word of God, which tends to be the way that a lot of the emergent culture has or is heading.

Research has shown that there is a high burnout rate in church goers within 4 - 7 years of joining a church. Where after that a high percentage of those take a backwards step in regards to church involvement and some to such a degree that they are considered to have backslidden.

I am wondering if this movement could be a answer to the problem of burnout of both pastor and congregation? Where people are released to be part of the answer in their already established community, bringing about the Gospel and Gods kingdom into that community.

It begs the question for us to re-look at what church really is and what it is not and to be honest with our selves whether we are ready for, or even want this type of communitive relationship with both each other and the lost?

The unexplored life is not worth living.

2008-03-31T12:21:00.005+11:00

I am listening to a podcast by 103.2FM of Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. He quotes Plato in regards to a quote that stood out to him.

The unexplored life is not worth living

I think that is a fantastic thought. How many people are frightened to explore what life is all about? How many of us are frightened to explore what our own personal life is all about? How many of us are frightened to actually explore our faith and see what it is all about?

Some time ago I went through a stage of actually exploring my faith. Actually it is something that I have continued to do. I believe that for faith to be authentic - we have to be willing and ready to question what we believe, why we believe it in what ever situation we find ourselves.

This time I allowed myself to question some of the givens about Christianity.
Take the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement as an example. I questioned it. I allowed myself to look at some of the other theories of the Atonement without allowing myself to denigrate those theories. I did this by refusing to(trying not to) engage with them through the lenses of PS. It was a truly liberating and freeing experience that caused me to appreciate more the vast tradition and experience of Christianity.

It also had a adverse effect of causing others around me to question my faith. To be disappointed in my apparent betrayal of those who hold to that theory and even suspiciously believe that I even betrayed Christ.

Yet I can say now that by doing what I did my faith is stronger. I do believe that the theory of PS is the best one to hold to. I am also able to acknowledge that other theories do hold much validity for us to also explore. That there are aspects of them that we do have to acknowledge as being Scriptural, that PS adherents in extreme forms ignore.

Taking Plato's quote I have adapted it to say,

A faith that is not explored is not worth having.

Jesus was funny

2008-03-31T11:57:00.003+11:00

Mark Driscoll makes the point that Jesus had a real sense of humor. Now we Aussies know that God has a sense of humor we only have to look in our own back yard looking at some of the weird animals he made. Take the Platypus for an example.

Marks says,

It is often the comedic exaggeration of Jesus that drives less-than funny
Bible commentators mad as they try to figure out such things as how a camel can fit through the eye of a needle. In fact, one scholar argues that "the most characteristic form of Jesus' humor was the preposterous exaggeration... Jesus humor was often biting and harsh, particularly when directed at the pharisees. For example, he called them a bag of snakes, said that their moms had shagged the devil, and mocked them for tithing out of their spice racks.

He also makes the point that Jesus was invited to parties and had many wild people hang around him.
One of the things that disturbs me is that we often associate fun outside of our Sunday meetings. In the meetings we speak somberly, yet when we go out socially our actions and speech change. Could it be that we need to bring fun back into our meetings and build up the sense that we continue worshiping God when we come into the meetings as well as continue to do so when we go back out into the world?

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Crossway Books, Illinois, 2007) p.40-41

The Brave One - Jodie Foster

2008-03-30T19:40:00.004+11:00

I finally watched this movie last night after having wanted to watch it since I first heard it was about to be released. It was interesting to watch the directors artistic ability in contrasting a subject that appears to be black and white to finally allowing for something else.

He sets the scene with a white woman dating a black man who are seriously planning to get married. They are both set upon by a group of thugs who film the proceedings who violently bash them both and kills her finance.

The movie proceeds with agonizing insight into the mind of the victim (Jodie Foster) who has to learn to live once again and who is frightened of going outside of her apartment once again. In fear she illegally buys a handgun and in a frightening scene discovers that indeed she has to use it to defend herself and shoots a white man in self defense after witnessing him murder a cashier in the supermarket.

Gradually her fear dissipates as she confronts the evil of the world and when confronted by some hoods on a train she calmly shoots them and then escapes the subway without being caught much to her surprise. She later forms a relationship with a black detective who is leading the investigation, who thinks that they are after a man and not a women.

Its interesting watching the plot unfold as the detective slowly realizes that the woman is the vigilante and tells her that he is dedicated to upholding the law, even if it means arresting those closest to him.
She receives a copy of the video that recorded her bashing and sends it to the detective who sees it. She finds those men and proceeds to hunt them down, calmly killing them with no remorse.
The detective races to her aid, and prevents her from shooting the last assailant and then with a twist hands her his gun telling her to use the gun that is legally able to shoot the man. He turns away as she does so.
He then says, to kill the vigilante she had to shoot him (The detective), wound him, graze him, hurt him so that he could say he fired in self defense, killing the man himself - which she does. In doing so they lay the guilt of the vigilante onto the dead man. - Yet in a way he was guilty of causing her to become what she became and suffered the fate of death for his own sin.

While I'm not one to interpret movies with a gospel intent, one can draw this idea out of the movie, even if it was not the directors intention to do so.

The twist is to set her free from the guilt of her actions, he had to take a bullet for her.

This is exactly what Christ did for us, took the punishment for all our sins. And like the woman in this movie it is often our reaction to what others have done to us that make us sin the most, wanting to exact retribution.
The wages of sin is death, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and all will face him. The question to ask is, Will we face Him acknowledging that Christ took the bullet for us?

Yet this question is one that is black and white and has no shades of Grey and one that we will all have to answer one day - so why not answer it now?

Natham Tasker ministers to the homeless in New York

2008-03-30T17:20:00.002+11:00

Nathan points out that 'we are all homeless until we find our home in Jesus'.

P.S Check out Justin's series on Judas.

Altruism

2008-03-29T20:22:00.002+11:00

There is an interesting discussion going on at the moment on the Aussie Christians Forum

I made the following comment.

I would say that any and every form of altruism stems from selfish motives.
Whereas a true form / act of love performed for the good of others has no selfish motive and by it's act cannot be considered a form of altruism. Note I said a true form of love.

Forgiveness for example can fall into both a loving or altruistic category depending on the reason it is offered by the offerer. Giving, generosity, marriage or the act of living in any form of community is the same.

So using the above definitions I would say that altruism has a evolutionary aspect to it. Though I suspect Tom and I may disagree about our terms and understanding of evolution.

My use of the term means that we try / learn / evolve in an altruistic fashion to appease our conscience which stems from a selfish attitude in that my concern for you is under girded by my needing to appease my self in some way or form.

Daddy rumbles and family time

2008-03-29T15:17:00.002+11:00

This morning, well mid morning to be exact while my wife made the bed one of the boys asked, "Dad can we have a daddy rumble?" to which the other also chimed in. Now it wasn't exactly the best timing as Rosie was just finishing smoothing down the cover and I said "YES!"

So on our bed we jumped, we fought with the pillows , tickled each other, jumped and pinned each other down. With great humor my wife decided to get in on the act by letting the dog into the house, through the front door near our bedroom. Nitro is a near 6 month old Bull Arab pup, and is a disaster on legs, big, heavy, muscularly clumsy thing it is.

So it dived right in, onto the bed with us, licking, biting - well not really biting - it has this thing where it puts my forearm into its mouth and just holds it. The result was that the kids just stopped and laughed themselves silly, my wife was laughing and here I was rolling around on the bed with the big lump of a dog trying to stop it from licking my face.

Needless to say the neatly made bed became a shambles, the sheets and pillow cases needed re-washing for they stunk of dog and had hair all over them. Yet it was a small price to pay for the sheer fun of time together, and that it had us all in stitches for a while laughing at each other and the ridiculousness of having the dog join in.

Ephesians Unfolded - 2

2008-03-27T19:59:00.003+11:00

On the 14th of March I blogged about what I thought the outline of the first chapter of Ephesians should be. I noted that the background to Ephesians is that the Gentiles were being intolerant and uppity towards the Jewish Christians and that this letter was in fact a rebuke to them.

In my outline I proposed that Ephesians 1:3-10 is about the Jewish nation being chosen to reveal Christ. On another blog where I made this comment some one replied that I was in fact in a very small minority of belief regarding this and that this group was solely comprised of myself and therefore on that basis I should reconsider my views.

While I do believe in accountability, I don't think that is a good basis to reconsider ones views rather that the Word of God should be used to form ones views. Therefore on that basis I want to look at the Bibles use of the word Adopted which the Greek word is Huiothesia. It is used 5 times in the NT and only by Paul. According to the NIV Exhaustive Concordance it is translated

(1) Adopted as sons Ephesians 1:5
(2) Adoption as sons Romans 8:23 & 9:4
(1) Full rights as sons Gal 4:5
(1) Sonship Romans 8:15

I am proposing that Paul's primary use of adoption in his letters is in regards to illustrating that God first adopted the Israelites as his own and uses the term mainly as a rebuke to the Gentiles who are a little uppity and intolerant towards the Jewish Christians.

Gal 4:5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

When ever Paul uses the law in his letters he is mainly talking to those of a Jewish background and it is in this context that Paul is using the term adopted translated as "Full rights as sons"

2. Rom 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[7] And by him we cry, "Abba,[8] Father."

While time and space does not permit a full exegesis of Romans, basically Paul alternates between talking to the Jews and the Gentile Christians. Here he is talking to those of a Jewish background about not becoming a slave again to the Law.

3. Rom 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Paul is referring to himself and again to the fact that it is the Jews who had the first fruits of the Spirit waiting eagerly for adoption.

4. Rom 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

This is perhaps the major verse that gives the most weight to my proposal. Romans is considered by most to be written after Ephesians and is Paul's most systematic tome regarding his theology. Here he is now speaking to his Gentile audience and is clearly saying - it is the people of Israel who were adopted as sons by God and it is to them that the promise of Christ came to first.

If Paul did write Romans after he wrote Ephesians we must allow his use of the term in Romans to highlight what he means in Ephesians.

5.) Eph 1:5 he[3] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-

I believe that Paul is rebuking his Gentile audience reminding them that it was the Jews who were adopted by God first and that it was to them the promises came first.

This is backed up by verse 13 where Paul now says, And you also were included in Christ... which means that Paul was not talking about the Gentiles in his previous sentences rather about someone else and that someone else could only be the Jews who had accepted Christ.

Therefore whenever we read Ephesians we need to keep in mind that those promises Paul speaks of, includes us but he is not primarily talking about us, rather rebuking us to remember that the promises came to the Jews firstly.

Vintage Jesus

2008-03-27T15:24:00.003+11:00

I won the book Vintage Jesus in a blogging competition by Adrian Warnock a few weeks ago. The book finally arrived in the mail today and so far has been a good read.

I like the final summary paragraph in his chapter regarding Jesus being passionate.

In summary, the Jesus of Marks Gospel is not fitting for old ladies in hats and men in suits like those we see at church. Rather than handing out communion at church, if he was to show up, the men would need cups and the women boxes of tissues and flak jackets because the real Jesus is passionate and nothing like the Lobotomized Lord of the Thomas Kinkade paintings.1

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Crossway Books, Illinois, 2007) p.44

Identity

2008-03-26T21:37:00.002+11:00

Today I made a comment on Byron's blog where he spoke about our faith has to be a faith within the body and not a private internal faith. I commented about identity and how for me I am looking deep within and without as to my identity.

Who am I? Is something I have been asking myself as I come to terms with sickness stripping away my capacity to work, study, and even fellowship as I previously have done.

Much of our Christian identity comes about from our ability to do stuff! Such as leading, preaching, helping at church. Our vocational work; whether it be Christian or Secular. Even our identity as a parent and spouse, friend and neighbor is affected.
It has caused me to stop, think and realize how much my identity has been in what I did and what I plan or rather planned to do - rather then who I am in Christ.

Have you ever asked yourself Where does my identity truly come from?

Diary of a Seminary Student: Holding the Door for Controversy

2008-03-26T14:18:00.000+11:00

Diary of a Seminary Student Blogging competition

Click this link and vote for Terry in a blogging competition. He has some good stuff to say.

I'm wiped out.

2008-03-25T17:19:00.002+11:00

We had a real good Easter weekend. I stayed home on Friday with the boys and my wife visited our previous church and invited some friends back home for lunch.

Saturday was a do nothing day and we didn't even bother doing any house work and went out for dinner to a friends place. Sunday we didn't go to church, as we went to my mother in laws for a family lunch. And Monday we had a great afternoon at another friends place whom we haven't seen since my collapse.

Today I'm paying the price as I am totally exhausted - but it was worth it.

Relationship not works.

2008-03-24T10:16:00.002+11:00

I first sat down to write this article on Sunday the 22nd of Feb 2004. The background context is that I was writing it for a mens prayer organization which explains it's emphasis towards men.

I was sitting at the kitchen table. There were a myriad of thoughts, ideas, quotes & insights of various things intermingled with many doubts about my ability to really be able to write any thing truly relevant flowing through my mind.
My wife came to join me with a cuppa in her hand, asking me what I was doing? she asked me what exactly I was going to write about? I explained some more about "Mensprayer.com and how John had reminded me I only had 3 weeks to get in this article a week before. So in reality I only had 2 weeks left to go.
Using her wifey type of advice she promptly said to me, "You better go and spend some more time with the Lord and pray about it" "Good advice" I thought with a non sanctified grumble, "What do you think I have been doing all week, in fact I have been doing that for some months now ever since we first spoke about the newsletter. "Suddenly the clouds lifted, the heavens parted, the confusion in my mind went away and I knew exactly what to say. Excuse me a moment ummphhh, grooaan, ahhhh, ouch, crunch, while I position my soap box, that's it, stretch, step up, gee that's better I'm standing on it now gee I can see a long way from here. :)

The Apostle Paul says, "that the weapons we fight with have divine power to pull down strongholds" today I want to challenge and pull down the strongholds that hold us back from walking the walk with God. That stronghold is that of us having to do stuff. "What do you mean you ask"? Let me explain.

I am a married man with 5 sons ( 3 of whom are step sons) I turned 37 early on in Feb, I am very active in our local church, as well as other ministry organizations, I run my own small business, I love to go fishing - though I rarely find the time and my wife has two lists in each hand longer than her arms of things needed and wanting to be done around the house. In other words I am busy. Not only am I busy, I reckon most of you are also busy people, in fact probably you are more busier than I am.
How often have you heard this or at least words to this effect "You need to be reading the Bible more, You need to be praying more, you need to be spending more time with God more......etc etc - perhaps you are nodding your head and telling yourself this is exactly what I need to be doing. After all isn't this what good Christians do? Right guys to be a good Christian don't we need to be doing stuff?....

Stop! This is exactly the stronghold I want to challenge! I want to tear down the motivation behind this type of thinking; which is a motivation of doing stuff. The motivation of - WORKS. I want to change your thinking, I want to challenge your motivation from being a "Christian Doer" into being a "Christian".....
Let me say that again I want to change you thinking from "Doing" to "Being" The attitude of having to pray, of having to read the Bible, of having to spend more time with God is wrong - NOW don't miss understand me here, I am not saying praying is wrong, I am not saying reading the Bible is wrong, nor am I saying spending time with the Lord is wrong.
What I am saying is the motivation of HAVING to do so, or you MUST do so to be a good Christian is wrong.
King David shows us a very important principle to live by, which is the basis for what I am saying here. Psalm 116:1-2 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice - he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long a I live.

Guys I am talking here about relationship, pure and simply we are Christians because we are in a real relationship with the very real and living God, who is the creator of all that is seen and unseen. It is not just an ordinary relationship we have - it is an extraordinary one.
I want to ask you 4 questions, 4 simple questions, 4 very important questions. I want us to be serious about asking them and answering them, take some time and reflect on them even ask one another these same questions.

1.How do you FEEL when people ignore you?
2.How do you FEEL when people listen to you?
3.How and what do you FEEL about those people from question 1?
4.How and what do you FEEL about those people from question 2?

Guys now be honest now about how and what you feel! I recently asked a group of boys these same questions. Guess what? They answered exactly the same way the congregation of the church I worship at did when I asked them. The answers I got for questions 1&2 were feelings of anger, being hated, sadness, low self esteem, a great dislike, not very good, did not want to listen back etc etc. The answers for questions 2&4 were totally opposite, felt good, liked, loved, confident liked being around those people, respect, love for etc etc.

Getting back to my wife, today I was in a great place of relationship with my wife & she with me. I was listening to her and she to me while we were just sitting together at the kitchen table. Then she got up to go and do something and I can tell you I was disappointed I could have truly stayed in her presence for some time longer.
The revelation I want you guys to get is that we pray out of relationship with God! We read the Bible out of relationship with God! And we spend time with God because we are in a relationship with him.
As I said it before, I am a busy man, my wife does not always listen to me. My kids don't. My employees don't. My clients don't and not even my friends and relatives always listen to me. And neither does my dog - and I must admit it I too am guilty of not always listening back. I love being heard. I want to be heard. I am a typical bloke who likes to be heard and not ignored. I think it is a typical yearning for us as men to be truly heard in the society we live in. God does listen to my every word. He also listens to your every word. He in fact will turn his ear, imagine a father bending down towards his own child, ear turned to hear his whisper and every word - that is what God does to us when we speak to him.

The Apostle John says, "We love God because he first loved us".
Guys I read the Bible because I want to hear what God has to say to me. I pray to God because I want to speak to God. I know he will hear and listen to my every word. I spend time with God because he wants to spend time with me. He will turn his ear to me because he has great interest in what I have to say.
And because he listens to me; in return I want to listen to him. My motivation to pray and to spend time with God and to read his word is out of a state of "Being a Christian" out of the great and real relationship I have with my heavenly father and it has been my hope and prayer and the aim of this article to change and to challenge your motivation to do so as well.

I have to go, I have someone to go and talk to, "Dear can you put the kettle on"I yell out to my wife.

Blessings Craig

An Easter Mesaage

2008-03-22T10:43:00.004+11:00

Deliver us from prayerlessness

2008-03-20T09:46:00.004+11:00

Terry Delaney who is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary made a comment regarding the Prayerlessness of students. He also speaks of his own frustration of being an ordained pastor, knowing he is called to ministry yet not having a church to pastor.

I wrote the following short devotional in September 2006 addressing prayer and ministry.

One of the areas that I like and believe is important in the subject of Christian Spirituality is the area of personal calling. Pentecostals believe that God does call individuals to certain types of ministry, and are open about saying – “God has called me to do this or that through personal revelation, prophecy and circumstance etc.

My own calling is to be a praying man, to raise others up to pray and to teach others how to pray. I have heard God tell me this a few times over the years and wondered how this calling was to work out. And so I have been praying for the last 7 years, “Show me, tell me, and reveal to me what exactly this calling means and how it is to pan out.” And over the last 7 years an increasing burden has come on me to plant a church and be its pastor – and I keep praying – “Lord is this really from you? How does this burden fit in with the calling you have given me"?

God has shown me how this calling fits into the pastoral ministry, and I have had a few aha moments over the last few weeks as all the pieces fit together. Eugene Peterson, the author of the Message Bible, wrote a book called, “The Contemplative Pastor” In this book he writes, the Pastor’s primary job is to be a praying person, to teach Gods people how to pray and be praying people. That their role is to bring the presence of God into their day to day life and this is achieved through prayer, which is communicating our needs to God, and trusting God enough to receive his provision through our asking.

Then last night I was reading the following by, E. M Bounds who says of the pastor in his book, The Necessity of Prayer

His main business is to turn them from being forgetful of God, from being devoid of faith, from being prayer-less, so that they become people who habitually pray, who believe God, remember him and do his will.The preacher is not sent to merely induce men to join the church, nor merely to get them to do better. It is to get them to pray, to trust God, and to keep God ever before their eyes that they may not sin against him.[1]

I wonder what would happen in our churches if our pastors had this revelation that their main job is to be a person of prayer? Teaching others to pray! Raising others up to pray! I wonder what would happen if our congregations took seriously and had the revelation that they too are part of this ministry of prayer, and undertook the ministry of prayer seriously in raising others to be prayers, teaching them how to pray? And the final question to ask is, “What will happen in your life, if you undertake to truly be a praying person, to raise up others to pray through teaching them how to pray?”

Let’s pray.

[1] E. M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer- Baker Books, Michigan 1984.

The Lords prayer - my testimony

2008-03-19T15:02:00.002+11:00

I wrote a short book back in 2005 interweaving my testimony through the Lords Prayer. Early last year someone volunteered to edit it for me and I received it back in the mail today. I really appreciate the time and effort the she put into it, especially knowing how busy she has been with work and personal life.

Now comes the hard work of revision putting into place her suggestions and then publishing it.

All things in common

2008-03-18T16:42:00.003+11:00

Many people think and say that Church is all about money, all they want is money or words to that effect, pentecostal churches in particular seem to be tagged with this more then others.

On Sunday we had service with a difference where towards the end the congregation was asked to stand if they were in financial need and to come down the front. I was among those who went down and then the reminder of the congregation was asked to prayerfully consider blessing those who were in need. It was both a humbling and inspiring moment for us all concerned to be blessed by giving and receiving.

Today we had a fathers day at school, where dads were encouraged to come to school and participate in the classroom with their children. This is a yearly event and part of it involves buying books for the kids to take home as well. This year it looked like I was not going to be able to buy any books for my kids, which as a dad laid a heavy burden on me. But because of our congregations generosity I was able to bless one son with a small telescope and the other with something else as well as having much left over to pay other bills.

While our preachers may not dot their I's and cross their T's with correct theology when critiqued by some, there is a real genuine practical outworking of love which is a fruit of the Spirit of God working amongst us. I think as the Apostle James says, "Words are meaningless without deeds"

Ephesians unfolded

2008-03-14T15:34:00.002+11:00

This is the first of a series of posts that I intend to look at the book of Ephesians. For purposes of expediency and personal belief I will keep to the traditional view that it was the Apostle Paul who wrote this letter. I acknowledge that there is some current critical doubt as to it being authentically Pauline, a belief which I don’t hold to and don’t wish to debate here. (1)
The letter is thought to have been written during AD 60-61 by Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. The difference between this letter and his others is that he doesn’t address it directly to any person or group, though our popular versions say to the Church at Ephesus, many of the original manuscripts do not contain that address and it is thought to have been added at a later date and so the intent of the letter is more an open letter to a group of churches around Asia Minor whom he is most likely not personally familiar with, though knowing they know of his authority as an Apostle. The intent of the author is similar to his letter to the Romans Rom 11:33 where he is talking to both Jewish and Gentiles Christians about how they both are in Christ and none is greater than the other. The background here is that the Gentile Christians have grown in numbers and are boasting of their independence and perhaps superiority to Israel and becoming intolerant of their Jewish Christians. Therefore I propose that the outline of the contents of the first chapter of Ephesians should be as follows.

1:1-14 Introduction and purpose of his letter.
1:1-2 Address and salutation
1:3-10 God chooses the Jewish nation to reveal Christ.
1:11-12 God predetermined that it would be Jewish disciples, apostles, prophets whom Paul counts himself among to reveal Christ.
1:13-14 God has also chosen the Gentiles to be included in His plans
1:15-23 Paul prays for the church.
1:15 -16 reason for praying
1:17 – pray for wisdom and revelation so that they could know him better
1:18 – heart be enlightened – know the hope God had called them and the riches of his inheritance in the saints
1:19 -23 Know the incomparably great power for those who believe and what that power is.

If what has been suggested is true by the commentaries in that the Gentiles are being intolerant of the Jewish Christians then Paul is actually rebuking the recipients of this letter reminding them that they were the last to have Christ revealed to them.

The other issue that this raises is that Paul is not speaking to individuals so much about what it was that Christ had done through verses 3 -14 rather he is talking about what He has done is for both the Jewish and Gentile nations together in a corporate manner rather than a individual way. Though we can be greatly encouraged by applying the meaning of those verses to ourselves we need to be careful that we don't take upon ourselves some of the meanings that Paul assigns on a national level.

Take verse 4 for an example "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world..." Most Christians wrongly read this verse applying it in a personal way that says, "God chose me in Himself before the creation of the world" The context of the passage does not allow us to make that interpretation rather the true meaning is that before the creation of the world God chose the nation of Israel to be the nation to reveal to the world Christ.

The next passage which is then taken out of context is verse 11-12. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out every thing according to the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory.

Paul is not talking about individual salvation being predetermined by God, rather he is making reference to his apostleship among the other disciples coming out of the Jewish nation as being chosen to reveal Gods plan for the world - "Christ"
He then says, you (Gentiles)also were included in Gods plan of salvation that Christ died for you as well.

Then while it is true that as individuals we take hold of the great promises of Christ we need to remind ourselves that in this first chapter Paul talks about God choosing the Jewish nation to be his children - referring to his promise to Abraham that they will be a great nation blessed by God, then how God chose some to be Apostles (2) to make this plan of salvation known, and 3rdly that the Gentiles are included in this plan of salvation and were so before the creation of the world.

[1] D. Guthrie, J.A Motyer New Bible Commentary, Ephesians (Intervarsity Press, England 1970)p.1107
[2] This is referred again by Paul in 4:11 about how God gave some to be Apostles...to prepare Gods people for works of service.

Is expositional preaching the same as verse by verse preaching?

2008-03-13T16:07:00.003+11:00

I have been posting a few times lately about preaching and sermon preparation

Over on the Boar's head tavern Michael Spencer from Internet Monk raises an interesting question regarding expository preaching. There he says that very few who promote it as being a higher form of preaching, actually do it.
Yet is he right in saying that expository preaching is teaching / preaching verse by verse through the Scriptures? Or is expository preaching more than just that?
I think that expository preaching is more than verse by verse preaching, though it can include it. I can turn to any number of commentaries that will teach the word of God and yet I would say that by reading a commentary out to the congregation it would not really edify them.

What then is expository preaching?

I believe that expository preaching is when the preacher takes a passage of Scripture, whether it be a single verse, passage, chapter or even a whole book and preaches on the main meaning of that Scripture, applying it to our lives in a meaningful way.

John MacArthur is apparently one of the few who do preach / teach via verse by verse expository preaching and is noted to be against topical preaching. Yet personally I cannot see how topical preaching would not be part of his preaching retinue as he does preach through verse by verse of the Scriptures and comes across valid topical subjects that are part of the specific verse being expounded.

Michael at the end of your post you ask, "Am I wrong?" I think the answer to it is that you are wrong in your explanation of what expository preaching really is. But you are right in that the preachers you mentioned don't preach in the way you define expository preaching to be.

Finding what you have been looking for

2008-03-12T21:49:00.003+11:00

During the class lecture on Wednesday 26th August 2007, Dreu Harrison a philosophy lecturer said,

When we find God, we find what we are looking for!
When we find what we are looking for we don’t like it!

This quote made me laugh and write it down, for it explains a lot about human nature. Scripture says that “God moves through, in, and over all things”( Eph 4:6) and that “eternity is written upon our hearts” (Ecc 3:11). This describes the constant shifting and seeking in our lives to find what satisfies us, while consistently failing to do so. We buy the new car, the new house, the new ring, suite of clothes, new job, seeking that promotion, and even a new partner. We seek the next experience which appeases the appetite for a short time, burying the uneasiness – while knowing that deep within we are still not fulfilled.

There is a process of finding God – and it really is not that we have found him, for God has never moved; rather, we become aware of his reality in our life as he draws us to himself. Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit will convince us of our sinfulness, of the truth and our need for Christ (John 16:8) and it is he who slowly makes us aware of the Godless void within us. A void that is crying out to be filled.

Then when we discover God is that only person who can fill that void, we discover that we don’t like what we have found; for God beckons us to die, to lay our lives down for him – and we are no longer free to seek our own way, rather to continually allow God’s Spirit his way in our life. This creates a constant tension of the now and the not yet, of knowing God and yearning to know him more, to have more of him in our lives, never satisfied with yesterday’s presence, not satisfied with today’s presence, looking forward to tomorrow with the yearning for the of eternity still burning brighter in our hearts, coupled with a contentment of truly knowing that we have truly found what we were looking for.

2008-03-12T17:34:00.002+11:00

It would not be a surprise to most of my readers to know that I fellowship at a Pentecostal Church. One of the things that annoys me is that a lot of more conservative Christians tend to tar and feather every Pentecostal church for being guilty for preaching the prosperity gospel. The truth has to be acknowledged that indeed its falsity is growing within its movement, but it also has to be acknowledged that for the majority of the movement it is cross centered.

The church I go to believes that tithing is still part of the Christians obligation and worship to God, and is needed to fund for want of a better word the church. So over the last few weeks we have had a series of sermons on tithing and giving. I know there is a debate over the issue of tithing, and know the theology of both sides who are either for or against the practice. Personally I am for it and think Scripture points more towards being for then against.

In its standing against the prosperity gospel it seems to me that the conservative church has its backs against the walls in not preaching the full context of Scriptures that talks about Gods financial blessing to those who give generously. For instance Piper and Driscoll have given many sermons against aspects of the prosperity gospel and rightly so - but I am yet to hear them preach a sermon on what the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians.

2Co 9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
2Co 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
2Co 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2Co 9:9 As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."
2Co 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
2Co 9:11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
2Co 9:12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
2Co 9:13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
2Co 9:14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
2Co 9:15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

In verse 6 Paul clearly says that those who sow little money will reap little money and those who sow generously will reap generously - the context being shown in verse 11 to be monetary rewards. Yet Scripture also tells us not to be greedy and Paul calls a greedy person an idolater .

Eph 5:5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Warning us elsewhere that the temptation of riches leads to a trap, causes us to have foolish desires and causes many to fall away from the faith 1Tim 6:9

Therefore if we are going to preach the fullness of Scripture we have to acknowledge that there is some basis of truth in what many of the false teachers teach regarding Gods blessings, while at the same time ensuring that we also preach the whole truth that indeed God does love a cheerful giver and Paul does preach that those who give little and give much will reap little and much - but the tension of Scripture requires that God wants us to concentrate on worshiping him and not acquiring wealth and that our trust is in God to provide for all our needs being content with what ever it is God grants us.

Sermon Preparation.

2008-03-11T21:07:00.003+11:00

There has been a bit of blogging done around blogdom regarding preaching, preachers and sermon preparation. C.J. Mahaney from Sovereign Grace ministries lists some chapters from various books that he recommends preachers read. I like the way he does this, recognizing the limited amount of time and the plethora of books out there that threaten to overwhelm a already busy pastor.

He also blogs an excellent post about how the preacher Stands in the stead of God

Justin Moffatt, whom I mentioned in my previous post, and whom I called Justin Taylor by accident also has blogged a fair bit recently regarding sermon preparation and you can read his MO here by scrolling down the page. His 5 points being,

1 Reading
Listening:
Preparing a Structure
The Writing, Practicing and Culling.
Lastly, there are some questions that are good to ask:

There has been much written about which is the best form of sermon, mainly being topical or expository and so I'm not going to enter into the debate about that here.

I thought I would throw my thoughts into the blogging ring about sermon preparation which comprise of only 3 points. Now I have to admit that these 3 points are not original, for I heard Dudly Foord share them at one of our church retreats 5 years ago when he was talking about the direction of focus that the mission of our church should take. His three points were,

Upwards
Inwards
Outwards

Those points have stayed with me since then and I have preached a few times using those specific points and used them for a essay I wrote regarding the gift of Tongues and how they have a Upwards, Inwards and Outwards value.

I have been thinking a lot about preaching lately and it hit me today that every sermon should have these 3 elements in it and if it doesn't then the preacher hasn't really done their job.

The preacher has to preach Upwards towards our living God, through the cross, using His word.
The preacher has to preach Inwards applying the word of God to build us up, to comfort, encourage, rebuke if need be.
The preacher has to preach Outwards - equipping us to go and live, engaging in the world we live.

If the preacher fails to do all those things then the sermon will become one of three things; an intellectual lecture about God that doesn't engage the heart. A self motivation, self gratifying speech, or fluffy dribble about love and tolerance without any substance.

Short sermons can be better

2008-03-10T11:11:00.007+11:00

Justin Moffatt who blogs "I'm Rambling Again" has written an interesting post which every preacher should read regarding the Gettysburg Address. His main point being that Lincolns speech only contained 279 words, yet the way they were crafted together makes it one of the most well known speech's ever given by mankind. Justin makes the proposal that he is going to try and put into practice the Gettysburg principal for sermon preparation in writing it out full with using only 279 words, making sure each word is is worth hearing.

Short sermons can often be far more effective in making the point than a long sermon can. Dr. John Capper once told us in a lecture the story of one of his best sermons. He was invited to be the guest preacher at a certain nameless respectable church where the minister and congregation had only heard of him, and never met him. As you can see from his photo he is a rather bushy bearded guy and this day he dressed in old clothes and went to church dressed as a homeless guy of the street.
The story goes that as he sat down on the pew the various people next to him shuffled a few inches away and some even moved to other pews. During the service both the minister and most of the congregation eyed him off a few times in a way that made him feel not welcome. When it came for the sermon the minister announced that he was sorry to say that their guest preacher for the morning had not turned up and that though he was not prepared he would wing it.

With that John stood up, announced that he was the guest speaker for the morning and gave a brilliant short talk on Paul's command on not showing favoritism to those who are better dressed than others and then walked out of the church. I believe that short sermon would be one that would stick in the minds of all who was there more so than any other sermon they have ever heard!

Abraham Piper is another who is doing his best to write short posts, his blog 22 words is a great attempt at proving that short can be better.

What is saving Faith?

2008-03-09T19:01:00.003+11:00

John H from Confessing Evangelical a Lutheran Blog, has been blogging about some of the differences between Luther's and Calvin's thoughts regarding faith. While the term (Sola Fide) Faith Alone comes from Luther's major stance in that we are justified by faith alone, John mentions some very important nuances between what Luther and Calvin meant by the term.

He engages with Phillip Cary who says in his lecture at a Lutheran Conference,

Let me start with the more Protestant kind of promises—the promises that come to mind for theologians who are, in my terms, quite Protestant. They belong to a larger pattern of thinking that I will call "The Standard Protestant syllogism.”
The Standard Protestant Syllogism
Major Premise: Whoever believes in Christ is saved.
Minor Premise: I believe in Christ.
Conclusion: I am saved.

I don't think there would be many of us evangelicals who would disagree with Cary's statement regarding our standard system of belief, after all according to the author of Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved! Cary carries this important protestant thought through to its logical end in that the only way we can be saved and know we are saved is by knowing what we believe; which is Faith.

So the logic follows from this condition: you are saved on condition that you have faith, so if I am to know I am saved I must know I meet the condition.

Cary calls this reflective faith in that it's only because we truly believe that we are truly saved and herein lies the rub in that we have to believe that we believe, or know we believe to be saved. There is a very subtle but important nuance in this as the subject of our faith turns from trusting in Christ and His promises - to ourselves in what it is we believe.

He then turns to what Luther believed which was more based on the sacramental promises of Christ.

Luther’s Syllogism
Major premise: Christ told me, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Minor premise: Christ never lies but only tells the truth.
Conclusion: I am baptized (i.e., I have new life in Christ).

For Luther his faith came from believing in Christs promises more so than basing it on what he believed. Therefore for Luther his premise was that faith was accepting the truth of what Christ had promised and therefore because he was baptised he had new life in Christ. Therefore for Lutherans it didn't matter so much as to what they believed, God never lies and therefore His truth was and is enough.

This means that there is elbow room for doubt and unbelief to to be part of the Christian's walk with God, in that we are free to be able to say, "God I doubt, help me in my unbelief" I believe these are important points for us to take note of, particularly for Christians like myself who come from a more charismatic / pentecostal strain of Christianity where the slogan, "Just Believe" is a common theme. Carey continues making the important distinction that there is not much difference between good works for salvation and working at making sure our belief is enough to be saved!

Don't you agree? Isn't it much easier to confess, "Christ is no liar" than to profess, "I
believe"—especially if what that is supposed to mean is: "I have true faith in my heart, I truly, really trust in God," etc. For this reflective faith, faith relying on itself, is how faith becomes a work, something we must do and accomplish in order to be saved. And then it has exactly the same problems as justification by works. You can always wonder if your works are good enough, and if you're honest, the answer will be: No, they're not good enough. In exactly the same way, you can always ask: Do I trust God enough? Have I really, unreservedly, surrendered my whole heart in faith to Christ? Is my faith strong, sincere, unhypocritical, un-self-serving? And the proper answer to all these questions is: No. My faith is never good enough, and thank
God, I am not justified by such works of faith but by the truth of the word I believe in. My faith is not good enough, but the one I have faith in is.

He then moves to Calvin's doctrine of election, predestination and perseverance and some of the issues arising from it in that the believer can never truly know for sure if we are truly a member of the elect and every time we sin we wonder if perhaps if God is withholding his promise of perseverance and we become anxious about whether our faith is strong enough to carry us through. Here Cary comes to the point, its in those times we must trust not so much in what we know we believe, rather that it is Christ who has promised us salvation, that he cannot lie and its in Him we believe.

However I think at times Cary is building a straw man caricature of protestant Christianity as I believe that our faith is built on Christ and trusting him alone for salvation and that our faith goes from faith to faith as we study Gods word and believe it to be true.

John H quotes Luther's counseling technique for those who were having doubts of faith,

If you want to build people up in faith, you have to direct their attention to the Word of God, not to their faith. But don’t direct them to some general principle - direct them to their baptism, and remind them that when they were baptized it was Christ himself who, through the mouth of the minister, said “I baptize you” and he meant you in particular.

And here lays the major difference of understanding the sacraments between Luther and other protestant thoughts. We believe and are baptised in response that we do believe and not because we believe in what we believe in. The basis of our two beliefs are no different to believing that Christ said we are saved because we are baptised and therefore we remember Christs promises when we remember we are baptised. Then it is for us to believe the promises Christ made in that who ever believes in me will be saved.

There is a good case however to be made that indeed for many Christians our salvation depends on what exactly it is we believe, and therefore many denominations, congregations, church groups etc become suspicious of each other when they don't tick the right boxes about their own statement of faith and understanding of the Gospel. Its in these cases that we need to heed Luther as our faith must be based on Christ Christs death and resurrection and the simple promises he made - rather then making a PHD understanding of the atonement, the 5 solas, etc.

This then gives us more breathing room to interact with all who call Jesus Lord, in that we base our faith in what Christ has done, more so than what we believe he has done and how he has done it.

Should we expect the gift of tongues and prophecy to accompany the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

2008-03-08T20:06:00.003+11:00

Adrian's Warnock has continued answering the question about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and says at the end of his post

Therefore I think we are not wrong to expect tongues and prophecy, and to ask for them, and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. Paul himself says in that chapter that he wants all of his readers to speak in tongues, and especially to prophecy. Thus, I think we should not settle for an experience of the Spirit that makes his gifts optional and is relaxed about whether or not we receive them. Let’s press into the Spirit for all he has for us!

I whole heartedly agree with what he has said here. I get upset when I hear Christians say; "I don't want the gift of tongues for myself" or "I don't need the gift of tongues myself". or "I have the gift, but I decided not to use it any more" or insert any other gift here!"

What people are really saying when they say these things or similar is that they know better than God as to what is good for them and what is not! Paul says that Gods foolishness is greater than mans greatest wisdom, and if the gift of tongues is the least of the gifts and therefore one of the more foolish gifts that God can grant us, "I WANT IT!"

Lets indeed do as Paul suggests, eagerly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit for God thinks they are good for us!

Trinitarian submissiveness

2008-03-08T11:51:00.003+11:00

I posted on Thursday about a Trinitarian Blog Summit that was being held on Nick Norelli's blog, Rightly Diving the Word of Truth. Nick wrote a essay on the issue of Subordination within the Trinity to the Father.

Here he argued that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are eternally subordinate to the Father, as Jesus was sent by the Father from His eternal pre-existence to his temporal existence in his limited capacity as man.
I thought he wrote a excellent essay, though personally I'm not sure that because God is one, that there can be any subordination within Himself; rather that the Trinity is and has to be mutually submitted to each other for it to be truly representative of them being one God.
Paul talks about the Body of Christ, how while we all have different functions we all belong to each other. Rom 12:4. I would propose that the Church in one way represents the functioning of the Godhead through our mutual submission to one another, though the illustration is limited as we are not God and therefore are subordinated to Him and to his sovereignty.

I commented as follows,

I think more work needs to be done in proving eternal subordination over temporal subordination, engaging in that Jesus was ushered in through the Spirit.

If the Spirit of God moves us to prayerful intercession, like He did Jesus; could it be that the Spirit of God moves / moved God to intercede, therefore pointing to an eternal mutual submissiveness?

Nick's replied to me,

Craig: Good question. It definitely merits taking a deeper look.

I think it does merit taking a deeper look at the role of the Holy Spirit through intercession, to see how the Trinity works mutually submitting to one another. The thought comes to mind about God telling Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and Moses that he would destroy the Israelites and how both interceded on their behalf and God relented from his anger...another way to read this is that God submitted to their pleas.

Paul speaks of the human spirit 2 Cor 2:11 and the philosophical question to ask, is what moves our spirit? Does our body and mind control it, or does the spirit move our mind and body or are they mutually submitted to each other?

We read in Gen 1:2 that it was the Spirit of God who moved over the emptiness, and then God spoke. Could it be that it was the Spirit who was moved by the emptiness of nothing, moved God to speak?

Rom 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Rom 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

We know from this passage that the Spirit of God is a intercessory Spirit and from the examples given in regards to Abraham and Moses that God will submit himself to intercession. Building on Jungels proposal of The God who comes, I would say that the Trinity is the God who intercedes, and it is through the role of intercession that we see mutual submissiveness within the Godhead at work. We read first the Spirit interceding over the emptiness of nothingness, then God interceding with mankind with his promise of a seed; Christ! Christ is now eternally interceding on our behalf before the father, who sees us through Christs blood, pure and spotless, and again the Spirit moving backwards and forwards carrying our prayers, guiding us as to Gods ways of living.

Here I see an example of mutual submissive function within the Godhead rather then a superior / subordinate functioning - which by its nature must denote the fullness of the deity of both the Son and the Spirit if they are eternally subordinate to the Father.

This requires a lot more thought given to it, does any one know of any work done in this area?

Does the word "World" mean "World"

2008-03-07T23:22:00.003+11:00

It's interesting in talking about the subject of salvation, atonement and election with Christians about what "World" in John 3:16-17 means.

Joh 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[5]
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[6] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[7]

A.W Pink and John Gill though perhaps more leaning towards Hyper Calvinist are examples of those promoting this idea.

The Persic version reads "men": but not every man in the world is here meant, or all the individuals of human nature; for all are not the objects of God's special love,...

Meaning that "World" does not mean as in all in the world, rather it means representations of every tongue, race and position in society that God choses to be saved and that Christ did not die for the whole world.

I'm glad to say that one of the worlds most respected and known reformed preachers D.A Carson disagrees with that stance. In his book The Difficult Doctrine of Gods Love he writes on page 18.

I know that some try to take kosmos ('World') here to refer to the elect. But that really will not do. All the evidence of the usage of the word in John's Gospel is against the suggestion.

I find this encouraging that some reformists do agree that Christ died for every single person who lived, lives and is yet to come. This is the Gospel, that Christ died for all, yet only those who believe will appropriate His blessing of eternal life.

Piper agrees that the narrative story must be read alongside Paul

2008-03-07T21:29:00.001+11:00

It was only last Monday 3rd of March that I posted about Paul and the Narrative story. There I wrote about how Luke was a contemporary of Paul and was a bit like his biographer and to get a true understanding of Paul's theology we had to read him alongside the narrative story. I argued that it was wrong for scholars to say that we cannot use narrative / Acts for doctrinal purposes.

Adrian Warnock has just posted regarding the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit quoting John Piper's sermon regarding What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit.

Here John Piper argues exactly what I wrote here about there being two workings of the Holy Spirit and that indeed the receiving of the Holy Spirit is experiential and not just a rational intellectual belief.

I'm Excited

2008-03-07T09:03:00.003+11:00

My wife has gone away for a few days with a bunch of women to a womans conference called "Color your World, hosted by Hillsong Church. Now I know many of my readers don't particularly like Hillsong and don't think any thing good can come out of it - thats a pity.

This morning while talking to my wife, she told me how Bobbie Houston for the opening session and spoke about having a wounded spirit and what should be done about it. I'm excited because many people do carry wounds, emotional baggage, un-forgiveness, bitterness etc which holds them back from truly experiencing freedom in Christ.

I'm excited because my wife knows she is not the only one hurt by past experiences, that she is around Christians who are taking their masks off, confessing their sins and hurts to one another and allowing Christ to minister to their hidden pain, instead of walking in and out of church pretending that all is OK.

Trinitarian Blog Summit

2008-03-06T17:50:00.002+11:00

Nick Norelli host of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth has hosted a Blog Summit regarding the Trinity.

Back in October of 2007 I had a dream to gather together bloggers and have them all post on various aspects of Trinitarian theology. The response was greater than I could have imagined and today my dream is realized. What follows are a selection of diverse posts from bloggers of all stripes on the Trinity. I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to everyone who has participated as well as an open invitation to keep this going and make it an annual event.

Have a read through them, some interesting essays, and in particular I'm interested in the one on Jungel, in that Gods being is in His Coming

Does God Like Us

2008-03-05T11:09:00.003+11:00

Over on AB's blog; What I Had To Leave Out, he posts,

We had the question asked in our Bible Study group...

"God loves us, but does he like us?"

The room was split 50/50. A very provocative discussion ensued...

I think the answer to that question is extremely important.

I do to, what do you think; Does God like You?

Persistence pays off - Vintage Jesus

2008-03-05T08:53:00.001+11:00

Adrian Warnock held a competition about who was his most linked to and commentated blog interview and I made a couple of guesses which were wrong. The good news is that I have been given the book for persistence.

WooHoo It is Mark Driscoll's latest book Vintage Jesus which is a book that I have wanted to buy. But because finances are tight, it was on the bottom of the ever growing list of more essential items, such as bills, food, kid's schooling etc.

Thanks Adrian,
craig

The Crucified God - Totally Rejected

2008-03-04T17:29:00.003+11:00

As a 'blasphemer', Jesus was rejected by the guardians of his people's law. As a 'rebel' he was crucified by the Romans. But finally, and most profoundly, he died as one rejected by his God and his Father. In the theological context of his life this is the most important dimension. It is this alone which distinguishes his cross from the many crosses of forgotten and nameless persons in world history. In his conflict with the law it was possible to speak of a 'misunderstanding' on the part of the Jews. In the political conflict of his crucifixion as a rebel it is customary to speak of a 'misunderstanding' on the part of the Romans. But is it possible to speak of a 'misunderstanding' in the theological context of his abandonment by God? If so, either Jesus must have misunderstood God in his preaching, or God must have misunderstood Jesus at the end of his life. But in view of his message concerning God, his abandonment on the cross cannot be interpreted as a misunderstanding unless Jesus is to be explained as a liar, or God as non-God.

The theology of the cross must take up and think through to a conclusion this third dimension of the dying of Jesus in abandonment by God. If, abandoned by his God and Father, he was raised through the 'glory of the Father', then eschatological faith in the cross of Jesus Christ must acknowledge the theological trial between God and God. The cross of the Son divides God from God to the utmost degree of enmity and distinction. The resurrection of the Son abandoned by God unites God with God in the most intimate fellowship. How is this Easter day fellowship of God with God to be conceived in the Good Friday cross? To comprehend God in the crucified Jesus, abandoned by God, requires a 'revolution in the concept of God': Nemo contra Deum nisi Deus ipse.⁷⁴ Here the Christian concept of God itself becomes a revolt in a quite different sense from the revolt which scandalized the Pharisees and priests over Jesus and which the Romans suppressed by executing him.⁷⁵

Moltmann, Jürgen, The Crucified God, (London, SCM 1994) pp 152

Not only in the end was Jesus completely rejected by man and His Father, the Holy Spirit of truth and life also left Him. Yet the Godhead did not remain divided, His rejection was temporal for the Father accepted His intercession and through the Spirit of Life was resurrected, and the God head was one again. Therefore as we participate through and in His death and resurrection we too are now free from rejection and instead have the glorious hope of total acceptance from the Father, and resurrection into eternal life through the Spirit.

Mark Driscoll

2008-03-04T09:54:00.000+11:00

Mark Driscoll?

Have you ever been the victim of gossip?

2008-03-04T08:56:00.000+11:00

Mildred, the church gossiper and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business.

Several members did not approve of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new church member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon. She emphatically told George (and several others) that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and then just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny... He said nothing.

Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred's house... Walked home.. And left it there all night.

You Gotta love George.

Paul and the Narrative Story

2008-03-03T22:44:00.003+11:00

I have been thinking through the issues of Paul and the narrative story told by Luke. It is commonly said that Acts should not be used for doctrinal purposes mainly by those speaking against the Charismatic movement.

I believe this is wrong and that Paul needs to be read alongside the Luken story. Luke was a contemporary of Paul and most likely Paul was a source for a lot of his information within the Gospel - and the source for the early part of Acts through to the end where Luke was a continual witness. We might say that Luke was Paul's historian / autobiographical writer and therefore we need to understand Paul in light of Luke and indeed I would say that we cannot understand Paul his ministry and his theology without watching him through the eyes of Luke.

This then creates a tension which favors Charismatic theology over Cessationist and more Conservative theology and perhaps even may throw a few spanners in the works regarding some Calvinistic doctrine in regards to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration / election where Luke records how the Holy Spirit works in bringing people to faith, alongside the Apostles preaching.

I shall have to ponder some more about this, what are your thoughts?

The Ephesians 5 Fold Ministry Gifts

2008-03-03T16:51:00.001+11:00

Adrian Warnock posts a excerpt from Doctor Lloyd Jones, where he believes that the office of pastor / teacher is one office and not two. He also says that he believes the other offices are temporal. If as he says is true he would then have to show that the gifting and work of evangelist is also temporal and no longer for today.

There would possibly be more Biblical proof to show that the office of Evangelist is more temporal than any of the other offices if a literal interpretation was to be made of Paul's list to the Corinthians.

1Co 12:28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
1Co 12:30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[4] ? Do all interpret?
1Co 12:31 But eagerly desire[5] the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.

Yet I doubt if any one would say that Paul is specifically excluding Evangelists from this list, rather his emphasis is one on ensuring we are loving and using all the gifts for the common good. There is no clear cut Scripture that says there will be no longer Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers and if one was to make a case that they and other supernatural gifts are no longer for today as mentioned; miracles, tongues, interpretation etc, then we have to say that the gifts of helps and administration which are sandwiched between healing's and tongues also have to have ceased as well.

Yet I know of no one who teaches that God no longer gifts people with the gift of teaching, administration and helps.

Paul then goes on to say that while he would like all to use the gift of tongues, he would rather they use the gift of prophecy more so. 1 Cor 14:5. If it was, as many teach that Paul is talking about the perfect being the Bible 1Cor 13:10 and therefore tongues and prophecy will be no longer, then Paul would have expanded and taught more in his next paragraphs about how they were to come together without using those gifts.

Yet he doesn't do that, instead he strongly promotes the use of those gifts, expects them to be used lovingly and therefore shows that they are part of the fruit of the Spirit and that no one is to forbid either the speaking of tongues or prophesy.

When one considers Paul's and all the other Apostles acceptance of Prophets in the narrative story and that they call other's Apostles and Evangelists who were not of the original twelve. And that there is no teaching within any of the epistles that God will no longer equip, gift, promote any to those positions, one is hard pressed to make the call that Scripture says that they will cease.

The two distinct workings of the Holy Spirit

2008-03-03T16:30:00.001+11:00

I have just added another post to my Trinitarian Dance blog, regarding the distinctive two works of the Holy Spirit.

Tim Keller on being a Missional Church

2008-03-02T18:31:00.000+11:00

What would Jon's life look like without Garfield?

2008-03-01T16:01:00.001+11:00

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

22 words humor

2008-02-29T22:21:00.002+11:00

Rene Descartes walks into a bar. Bartender says, “You gonna have a drink?” Descartes replies, “I don’t think I am,” then disappears.

As I think - therefore I am; therefore what ever is truth, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy I think about such things.

Do not worry

2008-02-29T21:15:00.002+11:00

Yesterday at connect group we continued our Bible Study on faith and the common saying "Just believe or You need to believe in yourself!

The study looked at how we are told not to worry and put our trust in God for all things and that he is the source of us being able to do all things and how we only have to believe in him, not in ourselves.

Tonight while reading devotions with my older boy - we are currently working through Exodus in a children's Bible - we came to the passage about God providing enough manna for every day and they were not to take more than a days worth. Now we know that many did and it spoiled and went maggoty.

Why did they take more...it was because they didn't trust God and worried about the next day.

In the sermon on the mount when Jesus talks about seeking first His Kingdom and His Righteousness and don't worry about tomorrow, the food you eat, clothes you wear etc ...for God will provide for you is a classic reminder to his listeners of what they should have known and put into practice from their knowledge of Moses...

Don't worry, be happy....trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understandings.

I got it wrong the first time

2008-02-29T21:03:00.001+11:00

Adrian's Blog Free book competition.

My first two guesses were wrong.

How about

INTERVIEW - The Authors of Pierced for Our Transgressions

Only 22 words

2008-02-29T19:57:00.002+11:00

Are you good at communication?
You will be challenged?
His purpose is to blog posts containing only twenty two words.
Try it?

Eberhard Jungel - A Trinitarian Prayer

2008-02-28T22:51:00.002+11:00

I came across this prayer tonight.The author wrote them as he was getting a distraught at the lack of Trinitarian worship and recognition within the church.

Dear heavenly Father,
You give us our daily bread. We thank you, and we never cease to
pray: Every morning, give us and all your children everything we
need for our physical lives.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the bread of life, come to us from heaven. We praise you, for
you have given yourself to satisfy our hunger for life. We praise you
in our prayer that you nourish our souls and strengthen them with
your Holy Spirit.

God, Holy Spirit,
Come to us, fill us with joy and with lust for life. Renew the hunger in
those who, spiritually and temporally, are tired of life. Fill with
insight those who are greedy, making us see not only where we are
meant to give rather than to take, but also where we can freely take,
freely pray, freely beg. Give us this day our daily bread.

AMEN

Taking Things Seriously - You have been spotted

2008-02-28T16:06:00.005+11:00

My first on the spot blogger / blog report is on a blogger whom I first noticed over a year ago commenting on Michael Jensen's Blog Michael is studying theology in England and many who comment on his blog are other students and the standard of commenting is very high in regards to understanding what has been blogged.

This particular commenter I have thought was either a student or professor because of the way he insightfully answers and asks further questions deeply probing into the issues. I have to admit that I have not had much to do with him on the blog apart from read his comments in awe and only recently found his blog and that though he is a professor of sorts, it has nothing to do with theology. Instead he is a particle physicist, who lives in Sydney Australia and is Bruce Yabsley

On his webpage he cites an impressive list of credentials as well as many essays, articles and mathematical equations that I have no idea what they mean, apart from the fact he is a very smart cookie and loves Jesus as well. He also has a great sense of humor, though possibly very dry. I have been checking out some of the links on his web that lead to some very interesting articles and blogs. Such as my previous post on the Sokal Hoax. I love that kind of humor - what a great link!

Another link on Bruces web leads to Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics Bruce says these guys need a sense of humor, which I agree - but it makes real interesting reading and I recommend it for all movie buffs to read through. Warning, do not try these experiments out at home!

I couldn't get the Doonsbury link to work, but check out The Onion America's finest news source - I love it! Next came his links to Goals, Meetings and Despair great pictures and make sure you read the captions underneath, they express the meaning of life ever so well.

Make sure you check out his list under the heading, The Final Frontier which leads to a whole heap of interesting links to N.A.S.A, Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope.

Finally on his blog site, I enjoyed reading his piece about the Australian Government saying Sorry.

Bruce Yabsley you have been spotted.

Blog Surfing from peoples profiles

2008-02-28T15:50:00.002+11:00

One blessing that has come from being sick is I have a lot of time on my hands - perhaps too much. One of the major ways I deal with that is through blogging and reading others blogs and the comments that are made. Clicking on the commenter's profile often leads to other great blogs, and ideas as to how to improve my own blogging.

Some Blogs and Bloggers are extremely interesting, some quirky, some intelligent, informative, funny, etc others are mediocre or just boring and repetitive. The same can be said of many of the commenter's and perhaps other's could say the same for me!

Sometimes though something will make someone stand out from normal obscurity of blogdem and make me think this person has something. Often what is blogged or the comments that are made make me go ---WOW what did they say? and makes me cringe when I think of my own feeble efforts at engaging in what was said.

Time to time I am going to post up a report about someones blog, or a blogger that makes a comment etc that I have found informative, quirky, intelligent, funny or made me think and reflect deeply.

Look out, the next blogger may be you!

Jesus turns water into wine

2008-02-28T08:06:00.003+11:00

I woke up early this morning and started reading the 2nd chapter of Johns Gospel.

Joh 2:3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
Joh 2:4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come."
Joh 2:5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Joh 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[1]
Joh 2:7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
Joh 2:8 And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it.
Joh 2:9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom
Joh 2:10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now."

A couple of things struck me that I hadn't thought about before.

Jesus changes the water into wine that is used for ritual purification. He doesn't just use any normal drinking water. This is the water that they would have dipped all the eating and drinking utensils with, washed their hands with to signify they have been purified etc; but it would not be used for drinking. The fact they are drinking the new wine I believe signifies an internal purifying and not external.

This is very symbolic because he begins his ministry with wine and feasting and ends his earthly ministry with sharing the passover meal again sharing wine and bread. John talks a lot about the Blood of Christ and in 1Jn 1:7 says,

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Jesus also shows he is superior to Moses. Moses changed water into blood, so did the many magicians in Egypt as well. But here Jesus changes the water into wine, a far superior wine then what they had been drinking before hand and had their fill of it and I think it refers to the blood of Christ again showing that he is superior to Moses.

The third thought I had was the difficulty I have had in the past with verse 4 where Jesus tells his mother off. I think he is referring to the future where his time comes to be hung on the cross and he becomes the new wine... Jesus talks a lot about wine and in the Synoptic Gospels talks about putting new wine into new wine skins - referring to himself and I think it makes more sense to read it the light of this and so Jesus is not so much rebuking his mother as he is making a statement about his true purpose.

Have you heard of the Sokal hoax? It's brilliant

2008-02-27T22:41:00.003+11:00

In 1994 a brilliant theoretical physicist, Alan Sokal submitted a paper to journal which is / was the leader in social studies. He filled it with absolute dribble. Yet it was accepted as a serious piece of scholarship. Have a read about it here I don't pretend to even understand 1/4 of what he was saying, and that was just the point, the author wasn't trying to say anything serious.

I do though appreciate the effort that went into writing it and his humor towards intellectualism at is worst.

Free book competition.

2008-02-27T21:08:00.002+11:00

Adrian Warnock is holding a competition about what was the most popular post on his blog. What do you think it is?

I have two guesses.

1.) It is your blog discussion with Phil Johnson.

2.) It was your blog saying you are shutting down all comments.

What is ministry all about?

2008-02-27T15:32:00.005+11:00

Over on Nothing New under the Sun Byron has been asking some pertinent questions regarding the overall ministry of the church in the way that Jesus was a friend of sinners. He then asks some questions regarding the way ministry students think about where they will minister and how that will effect their future standing among their peers.

Tim Keller is interviewed by Anthony Sacramone about his book and during his interview Tim says

I think the most important sentence in the book on that subject was, “All Christians believe all these things, but no Christian believes just these things.” So I said, “Here’s the Apostles Creed, and the Trinity, the deity of Christ, he died for our sins, saved by grace, you’ve got to be a part of the Church”—right? OK. I said, “All Christians believe all these things. If you don’t believe all these things, you’re not a Christian: You’re in a cult, you’re a member of another religion, or you’re a secular person.”

Anthony then asks him about his generous support and giving towards church planting.

Yes, because I don’t believe you can reach New York with the gospel if you only plant Presbyterian churches. There are all kinds of people who’ll never be Presbyterians. It just doesn’t appeal to them. Some people are going to be Pentecostals, some people are going to be Catholics. I mean, I know that sounds—I’m not talking about that certain cultures reach certain people. It’s much more complicated than that. Even though there’s something to that. We all know that certain cultures seem to have more of an affinity toward a certain kind of Christian tradition than others, but I wouldn’t want to reduce it to that at all. I would just say that I only know that God seems to use all these kinds of churches to reach the whole breadth of humanity, and so that’s why we give money to start churches of other denominations, and give free training to it. And we’ve done about a hundred in the New York area, where we’ve helped people. It’s very important to us.

David McKay links to Craig Johnson's blog bloggledegook and observes what a name. Craig wrote a good post regarding a book by Iain Murray on what Presbyterians can learn from John Wesley.

"The system Wesley inaugurated, instead of reviving debate on whether churches should be Episcopal, Independent, Presbyterian or whatever, aimed first at spreading the gospel by every available means. And the Methodist structure was flexible enough to operate effectively across the world - whether in England, or among the black slaves of the American South, or in Fiji, Tonga and other islands of the Pacific. What is beyond dispute is that in gospel effectiveness Wesleyan Methodism often outstripped other bodies; it reached slaves, soldiers, convicts and cannibals; it gave birth to vibrant churches which multiplied themselves as missionary agencies. This should at least make us cautious about dismissing the structure in terms of mere expediency...

And indeed much to the disgust of some church people the Gospel was taken out into all the world and even shook up the established church to do likewise.

I think Wesley prompts us to re-examine the relationship between zeal for the salvation of souls and church practices and procedures. We are prone to think that variations and changes in church order means laxity, but could it be that we need to re-examine what is most suited for the advance of the gospel in our generation? Is it not possible we could be in danger of allowing theory to prevent the introduction of changes that could be of blessing to people who are presently lost and far from God?" [pages 148-149]

On another of my favorite blog, Together for the Gospel Mark Dever wrote an article called Togetherness and the Real Front Line. There he says

The real front line is not between Calvinist evangelicals and Arminian evangelicals. It is between those who are lost in their sins and those who have been saved by God's sheer grace in Christ.

He then goes on to say,

The Gospel is clear. Wherever we may mail our checks for missionary support, a Free Methodist evangelist in Brazil, an Assembly of God pastor in the Philippines, an Bible-believing Lutheran pastor in Ethiopia or a conservative Dutch Reformed Christian in South Africa, an evangelical Church of Scotland grandmother, a conservative Anglican in London, and a Southern Baptist deacon in Dallas, when they sit down next to someone on the bus or the plane, and share the Gospel with them, will all share the same Gospel--the good news about the Holy God who sent his Son to die and be raised for the justification of sinners. And that we experience God's forgiveness and new life through faith alone in Christ alone.

This is what the ministry of the Church is all about, perhaps if you are worried about what your peers are going to think and if it will effect your standing amongst them, then perhaps you are not truly called to preach the Gospel.

Predestination and the Elect

2008-02-27T14:05:00.004+11:00

I have been giving more thought to the doctrine of Predestination and the Elect. I wrote an article about it here and David made a comment that I should include 1 Peter 1:20 Last night I started to look at the passage David mentioned and some others.

I then started to think of the Eternalality (I think I may have just invented a word?) of God, and how he is the God beyond time. If he is beyond the limits of time, he is as the Bible says the God in the beginning, he is the God in the end and he is the God during the now, the present. Therefore because he is beyond the limitations of time, he knows before the creation of the world who will accept his message because he has already judged those coming through his gates for not doing so. Because he has already sorted those who are going to the left and the right - some to eternal death, others into eternal life... he knew before the creation of the world who would accept his son.

It gets a little confusing as we cannot fully comprehend what it means to not be restrained by time. Today I found this great quote on Custardy's blog regarding the omniscience of God.

God perfectly knows Himself, and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.

A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

Here we can see how Gods omniscience and eternal functions work together. He knows all things because he has already been there.

The advantages of having boundaries

2008-02-27T09:08:00.002+11:00

Today I'm thinking about boundaries and how there are many types; such as physical, emotional, verbal and spiritual boundaries. Some boundaries are good and Godly, others are not.

Yesterday I was talking with the physio about boundaries and how there was a big park in New York that the kids would play together in the middle around the swings, but once they fenced the park the kids starting kicking a ball, playing frisbee etc up to the boundary of the fence.

The reason we give our kids boundaries is to keep them safe and for them to know they are safe. Every parent, or at least most, would teach their children how to cross the road safely and when young watch over them, walking across with them so they know how to cross safely.
God also has given us boundaries to follow, not because he is hard, harsh and uncaring. It's quite the opposite, its because he is loving, merciful, caring that he gives us the boundaries for life, and so that we can safely cross to the other side into eternal life.

The greatest boundary that God has given us is Christ. The God who is the way, the truth and the life. The God who if we come to him, will not cast us away, rather give us eternal life. Many try to live a life breaking free from this boundary, yet the freedom they think they have through not keeping to Gods ways is actually the way of death, destruction and torment.

Christ gives us peace, hope, love, freedom, forgiveness, and true life.

Do the boundaries that you live by, give you this?

Totally wasted

2008-02-26T22:47:00.002+11:00

Today I joined in the monthly rehabilitation walking group for the first time. We walked down along the bike trail beside the Nepeon River at Camden which is concrete and fairly flat. I walked a record for myself which was nearly 2 kms altogether there and back - though I did say to the physio who was supervising me when she asked if I wanted to sit for a break on the return leg, that if I didn't keep going I would not have the energy to get up off the chair and get going again.

Mind you I did have to use the walking stick the whole way.

I'm wasted, totally wrecked and will possibly pay the price for it tomorrow and the next day. But some things are worth it, and today was one of them, walking through some great scenery which I have not done for a long time.

Billy Graham interviewed by Woody Allen.

2008-02-26T17:52:00.005+11:00

Both Woody Allen and Billy Graham are icons from the 60's. They were both loved by many, though each for different reasons. Check out Billy Graham's interview by Woody Allen. His words are priceless.

Billy Graham is interviewed by Woody Allen

Cameron is entering a best selling book competition

2008-02-26T09:11:00.001+11:00

Check out his story of how he was inspired through visiting an African Jail.

Bens daughter hears God.

2008-02-25T17:49:00.003+11:00

Kids can be funny, check out the discussion between Ben's daughters 5 & 3 about whether you can hear God or not?

True theologians in the making.

Two headed kitten and giant sea spiders

2008-02-25T17:24:00.002+11:00

Check out the giant sea spiders

Does your pet need antidepressants?

2008-02-25T17:13:00.003+11:00

This is absolutely crazy.

Zoo and wildlife medicine specialist with the UKs Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Romain Pizzi, told the Telegraph.co.uk that more pets were being prescribed Prozac.

Tropical birds such as parrots seemed to have been the most affected by depression, Mr Pizzi told the newspaper.

Perhaps the real reason the Tropical Birds are depressed is because they are tropical birds living in extreme sub tropical conditions, and I wonder how many of them were illegally smuggled in from the wild? Where is Dr. Doolittle when you need him?

Two great add ons that are a must

2008-02-25T08:53:00.001+11:00

Two Firefox addons for the Christian Check these out,

A handy link for Scriptures on Bible Gateway on your search bar.
A handy add on that allows to to split your screen in 2 or more.

More thoughts

2008-02-24T21:23:00.002+11:00

Today I was reading the story in Acts where after Peters initial sermon they asked, "What must we do to be saved?"

Peter replied,
1.) You must repent.
2.) You must be baptised
3.) Then you will receive the Holy Spirit.

First of all they were cut to the heart in the way that Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit will convict us and that faith comes from hearing the word of God.
To truly repent of their sins would mean that they were regenerate / saved at that time of repentance / coming to faith.

Peter clearly says, that after you repent and are baptized then you will receive the Holy Spirit . Therefore Scripture plainly shows that their is an initial external work of the Spirit in bringing someone to faith and then there is a secondary work of receiving the Holy Spirit after salvation.

25 youth and adult baptisms.

2008-02-24T21:10:00.002+11:00

We had a wonderful time at church tonight. We had a specific baptismal service where a combination of 25 youth and adults were baptized. My wife being one of them. What a wonderful privilege it was to be invited by the minister to speak briefly about my wife, as I shared that in the beginning of 1997 I led her to the Lord and that was how we first met....

It's a wonderful sign also that, though she had been baptised as an infant, she wanted to do it as a believing adult.

Praise God for all His mercies, all His sacraments and for His people

In my more adventurous days I tried anything

2008-02-24T14:06:00.002+11:00

Is Salvation the same as Baptism in the Holy Spirit?

2008-02-24T07:12:00.002+11:00

I have uploaded a more reflective opinion on this question to my other Blog, Trinitarian Dance where I modified my previous opinion slightly and expanded my thoughts more about the subject.

Baptism of the Spirit is not Salvation.

2008-02-23T15:14:00.002+11:00

Adrian Warnock posts a blurb from Doctor Lloyd Jones regarding the difference between Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

He goes one step further then even most Pentecostals and Charismatics would, by stating that if you say regeneration / salvation is the same as Baptism of the Holy Spirit then you are guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit. Strong words indeed.

I have reflected more on this subject here

Sifted Like Wheat

2008-02-23T14:56:00.002+11:00

I blogged a piece back on 2005 on my now defunct blogger. I have revised it and re-posted it here.

It's about being sifted like wheat and that though there is not much fun in it, God does have a purpose in it.

Jesus: friend of sinners

2008-02-23T14:05:00.001+11:00

Check this out. Byron Smith has made a great post about how we too should be a friend of sinners.

There is some good questions being raised in the comments.

Prophetic word

2008-02-22T21:36:00.004+11:00

I uploaded two prophecies that the Lord gave me some years ago that I had on another blog that I no longer use.

Have a read of them and tell me what you think.

A trivial challenge

2008-02-22T20:26:00.004+11:00

There is 191,000 Google entries for Craig Bennett.

I had to go to page 3 before I found myself on Google and there I was at the top of the page. I challenge you to find yourself on Google. Let me know how you go?

I'm actually going to tag a few people, hmmm let me see.

Has God called you to preach?

2008-02-22T19:47:00.004+11:00

This is an article by Albert Mohler about the way God calls you into a full time preaching ministry.

Basically he says, there are two steps,

"If you can do anything else but preach, go and do it for God has not called you into the preaching ministry. But if you have a continual desire to preach, then God has probably called you to do so"

Is there an external call or recognition of that call by the congregation or elders in which you serve.

I think it is great that a well known reformed principle of a well known Bible College teaches that there is indeed a subjective calling / gifting and burden by God.

Adrian Warnock says it well, read more here

What really interested me about these posts is the fact that what they both so clearly describe as important, but needing careful handling and testing, seems to me to be indistinguishable from what us charismatics call a prophecy. So tell me, is it really just a matter of semantics? It is surely the case that if we define prophecy to mean the same as Scripture, every true believer would agree that it has ceased. If, on the other hand, we claim there is a range of prophetic experience which includes the subjective sense of God's Spirit communicating to us that Mohler and Dever describe, are there really that many Christians who genuinely believe that such subjective callings from God have stopped?

Speaking the truth in Love.

2008-02-22T14:07:00.002+11:00

I have uploaded an article about speaking the truth in love here. It

Charismatic Renewal - A reflection from John Mark Ministries

2008-02-21T21:40:00.001+11:00

I have posted a reflection of the Charismatic Renewal on my other Blog Site here

Thanks to John Mark Ministries for this.

My son Samuel wrote this book review for home worktonight, he is only 8.

2008-02-21T20:02:00.001+11:00

The book I am reading is called star wars dark warning.
It is written by Jude Watson. The book has 139 pages and so far I’ve read 24 pages. There are eighteen chapters and I’ve read three chapters.

The main characters are Obi-wan Kenobi, ferus Olin, Trevor, Boba fett and Dhahran.

Obi-wan and Ferus were looking around for Boba fett suddenly Fett came out from the shadows ready to destroy Obi-wan and Ferus. He flied around every where firing his gun Obi-wan and Ferus were jumping around everywhere swinging their lightsabers reflecting Fetts shots. Ferus and Obi-wan found shelter they will be safe under there for a little while.

Then they saw a ship Trevor was inside it they jumped into the ship Fett and Dhahran tried shooting them but it was to late the door had closed. Ferus looked out the window and saw that Fett and Dhahran were flying away in their ship. They had to chase after them.

And that’s all that I’ve read of star wars dark warning.

Infidelity - double standards

2008-02-21T16:34:00.003+11:00

Gordon links to to a newspaper article encouraging middle aged women to leave their middle aged husbands if they are not happy. He also links to a great reply. Think about it, what would the public think if it encouraged the men to do the same?

A great quote from Egune Petersons next book

2008-02-21T16:19:00.001+11:00

Ministry is like raising children. You cannot MAKE your children become what you want. That is the error of so many pietistic movements.

More doctors tests

2008-02-21T15:22:00.002+11:00

Today I had to see the rehab specialist. Wow 6 weeks goes quick. It seems that the days blur into weeks which blur into months. Today I was having one of my more shaky days, which was good for the doctor actually saw me at my worst. Normally they have seen me at my best.

She has organised me to go for another brain and spin MRI scan, this time at a different location as she personally thinks the machine and personal at Liverpool are better at reading those type of scans. She has also organised for me to have more blood tests, checking for various things and comparing them to the last round of tests and to check cortisal, vascular and something else.

Then there will be another 3 hour test some time in the future which is going to test my brain how my brain functions. Its a bit of a psyc test as well, there could be a chance of early dementia -

"NO" pray not, I have only just turned 41.

However we still have to check it out to see what functions I do and don't have.

Writing, paper and pens and other trivial stuff.

2008-02-20T16:53:00.006+11:00

I try and journal every day, both in my diary and in a exercise book when I write too much for the page. Have you ever picked up a pen and started writing with it and found it is either too faint, to heavy or something else is not quite right about it, but you continue using it any way?

Perhaps it is just me?

Yesterday this happened to me and I continued using it, and again today I used it, and mid way through my journaling, "Thought this is crazy" and went to the kitchen to get another one. Which works perfect.

I did say in my heading this was trivial stuff.

Another annoying thing is when oil from your skin stains or marks the pages you are trying to write on and the pen just does not work. So you try a few pens before you find one that works and you either forget the inspired line you were trying to write, or it was a note you were writing to someone and you have to redo the whole thing again because of the messy writing.

And finally

Don't you hate it when you want to print something out, and find 1/2 way through the print job you either run out of paper or ink, or the printer grabs more then one page and it prints 1/2 way down one page and one the other half of the next. It usually happens to me when I am printing both sides and am on the second run and of course it means the page numbers are out of sync.

Experiential Theology

2008-02-19T23:17:00.001+11:00

I have posted up an article regarding Experiential Theology and that it should be the norm for every Christian, not the exception.

Antidepressents - day 2

2008-02-19T15:50:00.002+11:00

I only started to take the antidepressants yesterday, which is 1/2 tablet of Lovan, disolved in water.

"YUK" They are the most disgusting thing I have ever had. It seems that
I continually have this taste that is hard to discribe in my
mouth most of the day.

Yet I will continue to take them, its too early to say whether they work or not.

The Call 2nd installment

2008-02-19T15:47:00.001+11:00

I have posted up more to, "The Call"